Beautiful Crimson
by Of Words and Thoughts
Summary: ZADRish. Oneshot. Dib has a recurring dream where he tries to answer a recurring question. A bit... odd.


ONESHOT. ZADR-ISH.

This has got to be one of the strangest fics I have ever written. Not because it contains random words and such; it's just because… it seems there are many underlying themes in here. They're all… twisted together, and not in a very good way. Seriously. Like there's more than one plot or something… weird.

There's ZADR in here, quite obviously if you look. You could take it as ZADF… I suppose. But there _are _implications of a relationship between them in here. And if you don't like that, then don't read.

Disclaimer: Nope, don't own Invader Zim. If I did, ZADR would be implied in _lots _of episodes. I suppose May/Marie counts as mine… right? Well, she's not really an important character here.

* * *

_A month before Zim's arrival_

"Dib, what's your color?"

Dib ignored the question, engrossed in obsessively studying a photograph of a supposed Big Foot sighting. He traced the faint black outline with a pale finger, eyes crossed thoughtfully.

"…Dib?" His name was spoken tentatively, and, irritated, Dib looked up.

"What? No, for the millionth time, Big Foot is real! See? See this picture?" And he would have shoved the picture in the questioner's face had her face not stopped him. He put down the photo and muttered sheepishly, "Sorry." It was simply the new girl, the one who had not yet learned who Dib was, a boy who was ridiculed and teased just for having certain beliefs.

_Her name is Marie… I think._

She looked absolutely terrified at Dib's outburst, but at Dib's apology, Marie seemed to relax slightly. Trying on a hesitant smile, Marie sat down next to Dib and murmured, "That's okay."

Feeling slightly shameful, Dib asked her, "What was that you asked me?" He wanted to make up for his sudden explosion.

"Oh." The girl looked awkward. "Um… it's kinda weird…"

"It's okay, you could ask me."

"All right… what's your color?"

_Color…? My color… _"You mean my favorite color?" asked Dib aloud. He raised an eyebrow at the girl.

"Oh no, not exactly." Marie gave a shaky little laugh. Dib noticed her mouth was full of braces. "Just the color you think… represents you."

"Really?" He was interested now, in spite of himself. "Is this some sort of psychic process or something? You know… psycho-mumbo-jumbo-such…" And he immediately wanted to slap himself for saying such an unprofessional phrase.

Marie replied, sounding a bit put off, "Oh no, it's just… something I like to ask people."

"I see." Thoughtfully, he looked down at the Big Foot photo. A color…? To represent him.

He couldn't think of anything. Black, maybe? After all, it apparently stood for desperation and depression and all that fun stuff.

But he wasn't depressed. Not exactly. He could get lonely at times, sure, but… he could be happy. When he was busy looking for the evil mutant elf hiding in his room or searching for a device to reveal invisible ghosts, he was happy.

Maybe not happy, but contented. Sure.

Besides black, he could think of nothing else. He gave a regretful apology to the red-haired Marie sitting next to him. "Sorry, but I can't really think of anything."

Marie gave him a Look, one which had the potential to either be disdainful or pitying. She opened her mouth to say something when a girl from across the room called out to her.

"Hey, May! What are you doing talking to the crazy… thing? He's insane! And insane things are bad!"

Ah. So her name was May.

May glanced at Dib, a bit of surprise and a lot of embarrassment in her eyes. _Well… this is it, _thought Dib dully. _One normal conversation and a potential friendship… gone. Again._

And he was right, as May gave a wave back to the girl and slipped away, her guilt silent. She never came to talk to Dib again… except for the occasional "crazy" insult or two. At least, she had learned now who he was.

--

_"Dib, what's your color?"_

_"You mean my favorite color?" _

_"Oh, no, no, not that at all. Just the color you think… represents you."_

_Dib looked at the faint outline of the girl. She stared back. Only her large blue eyes seemed real. _

_"My color…?" He looked down. "I'm sorry… I still don't know."_

Dib shifted uneasily in his sleep.

--

The dream kept recurring for some odd reason, whether he simply took a nap or fell asleep in class. It constantly bothered him. Constantly.

_--_

_A year after Zim arrives_

"Ack! Zim, that was close!"

"Foolish human, of course it was close! I was aiming at your big, giant head, was I not?!" A bright orange streak flashed past Dib, sizzling as it hit the floor.

"My head's not big!" Dib ran, scanning the lab for cover. "And if you think it's so big, why do you keep missing it?" He rolled behind a machine, shrugging off his trench coat and throwing it over his head like a shield. Pausing, he peeked from under to check where the mad Irken currently was.

He wasn't there. At all.

"Huh? Where…?" Wildly, he examined his surroundings. "What…?"

"ZIM IS VICTORIOUS!" Dib let out a choked "urk!" as he felt something heavy land on his back. The trench coat fell to a black heap on the floor. Black-gloved hands crawled around his neck, tightly squeezing, and Dib felt hard, smooth spider legs pierce his shirt and lightly graze his skin. The boy started thrashing, trying to remove Zim from his body.

"Get off, Zim, get off!" The alien was flying all over, but he held on.

"No!" As if to accentuate his point, a metal leg quickly stabbed his abdomen, not deep enough to be life-threatening but hard enough to hurt. And bleed.

"Ow!" And Dib knelt down, clutching his injured stomach. "Ow…" He paid no heed to the alien that still clung to him. He felt his abdomen. It was somewhat wet with blood.

"Ouch… Zim, you jerk!" With unexpected ferocity and speed, Dib pinned a surprised Zim by the throat to the back of the machine. "You idiot! That really hurt!"

Zim managed to look smug even under the hand of his enemy. "Zim does not care about your wound! In fact, he laughs that you are injured, Dib-beast!" Rather eagerly, he asked, "How deep did I poke you?"

"That doesn't matter!" He squeezed his hold on the Irken's neck. "Just… just die, alien!" He spat out the word with bitter venom, and grinned in satisfaction as Zim started to turn a pale bluish color.

"Ha! I'm winning, Zim! It's _my _victory, not yours. Oh, how the people of Earth will rejoice when they find out that I saved them from a dangerous alien threat…" He sighed in satisfaction. His eyes moved up to Zim's face.

Their eyes locked. Dib froze.

_Claret, velvet, crimson, blood-red… _Adjectives swirled wildly around Dib's head. He stared, transfixed.

_They were so… pretty. So shiny. They're like exotic jewels… _Dib thought absentmindedly, his grip slackening.

In that instant, Zim ripped himself free and pounced on the poor human, who gasped in horror at what he had accidentally done. He ran for cover, trampling on the forgotten coat.

_Oh, dear, oh, dear. _Dib had to fight the urge to slap himself senseless. This wasn't the first time he got distracted like that.

--

_"Dib, what's your color?"_

_"You mean my favorite color?" _

_"Oh, no, no, not that at all. Just the color you think… represents you."_

_Dib looked down, just like before. But when he looked up, his eyes seemed fiery with determination. "Red… red. Red like his eyes." His face appeared to soften. "His eyes..."_

_"Finally," the girl breathed softly. She seemed to fade away._

_--_

"Red," mumbled Dib in his sleep. "Red, red, red, like his pretty eyes…" And he rolled over, mumbles turning incoherent. The swathed white bandages were barely visible underneath his pajama top.

Seemingly ubiquitous crimson glinted in the darkness, watching the human almost thoughtfully through the window. Then, gracefully, a metal leg shot out through the glass, breaking it with a shivery sound. Zim stiffened as Dib turned once more.

But the human still lay asleep.

The metal leg stabbed through Dib's floor, pinning to the floor what the Irken needed to deliver. Job done, Zim withdrew the leg and vanished just as quickly as he had come.

--

Dib woke up with a yawn. He rubbed his eyes lazily and looked around, momentarily disoriented by the bright sunlight shining through his window.

_Wait… _the boy stopped, confused. There was a hole in his window.

A hole… perhaps Gaz broke it? thought Dib a bit suspiciously. However, when he got off the bed, he felt something soft.

Something cloth-like.

He looked down. There was his black trench coat, folded neatly into a square. Dib picked it up and found a piece of paper underneath it, a message written on in a childish scrawl with numerous spelling mistakes. Without the spelling mistakes, it looked something like this:

'Dear Dib-stink,

Here is your stupid coat. You left it in my lab.

Love, (this was crossed out)

Hate, (this was crossed out as well)

Much hate and your future emperor and slave master,

Zim

P.S

Yes, you are wondering how I managed to write this letter using the correct human-letter format, are you not? ARE YOU NOT? Well, that is because I am ZIM!! Bow, bow down to my huge intelligence-ness!!!! BOW!!! Oh, and Gir wants to tell you he likes tacos.'

_Love…? _Dib looked at the letter, bemused. _Hate…? _All crossed out.

_Much hate and your future emperor and slave master… _

_That_ wasn't crossed out.

"Not if I can help it, Zim!" cried out Dib, about to tear the paper into small pieces. But he glanced at his coat, small and neatly folded with black-gloved hands.

… eh.

He threw the paper on his bed, and ran downstairs to breakfast.

--

The dream never bothered him again.

* * *

Wow. That… absolutely made no sense. There seemed to be actually more than one idea incorporated into this. They're all twisted into one horribly weird fanfic. And Dib's character seemed strangely… off in the first section. 

Ah, well. Flame if you want to.

Oh, and about Zim writing "love..." on the paper, he accidentally did that. See, he was copying the format from this love letter, and accidentally (or maybe not...) put down "love..." Then, realizing what he just put down, he changed it to hate. Then, "much hate." And then he added that last bit.


End file.
